VSS Forecast

http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2008-08-04-media-forecast_N.htm

http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080805/FREE/433383334/1078/newsletter01

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/finance/news/e3ieb1f595b5fc21e0a84674ec00307f91c

http://www.vss.com/news/index.asp?d_News_ID=177

B-to-b media spending totaled $24.79 billion in 2007, and the sector produced a 4.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2002-07, according to the forecast. B-to-b media is anticipated to reached $32.95 billion by 2012, for a CAGR of 5.9% from 2007-12

“The U.S. communications industry has proven to be resilient during difficult economic periods over the last several decades because of the diverse portfolio of spending derived from the institutional, consumer, advertising and marketing sectors,” said Jim Rutherfurd, Executive Vice President and Managing Director at VSS. “While current economic conditions are contributing to the underperformance of traditional advertising and marketing segments, various institutional, consumer and alternative media segments are outperforming GDP due to several factors. Among them are businesses demanding dynamic workflow solutions for competitive global markets, consumers taking ‘staycations’ this summer and spending on entertainment media targeted at the youth market, and brand marketers shifting to alternative media to engage hard-to-reach demographics.”

Spending on alternative media will climb 21.0% to $81.67 billion in 2008, and account for 17.7% of total advertising and marketing spending, up from 6.9% in 2002, according to the VSS Forecast. By comparison, traditional advertising and marketing will inch up only 0.4% in 2008 to $378.48 billion, including a 1.8% decline in traditional advertising, despite the influx of political and Olympics advertising, as newspapers, consumer magazines and broadcast radio all post declines for the year.